The U.S. Withdrawal and Limited Options in Iraq | STRATFOR

The U.S. Withdrawal and Limited Options in Iraq STRATFOR

THE LARGEST DEMOCRACY NEEDS IMMEDIATE ELECTORAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS

The conservative Indian society is having promiscuous political character, I think that the average Indian or the AAM AADMI is so fed up with the electoral system that he participates in it in the most disinterested manner. The suggestion on rejecting the candidate with criminal records is worthy of consideration by the electorate but what will happen where people have to make the choice between the lesser evil of the two then I suggest that the time has come to put another button on the EVM - a button for rejection with the party symbol saying REJECTED and if any candidates receives 5 percent or more of the total votes polled as rejection votes then the election should be declared null and void thus forcing the main political parties to change their rejected candidates . Till this type of deterrent is introduced in the system, the political parties will keep nominating sophisticated goondas to fight elections because elections needs money and muscle power and who else has it in plenty other than these. Another way to look at this problem is that it has been established that the muscle and money both play their role in the elections so let us accept that the problem exists ,understand its depth and width across the political system's spectrum. After understanding this malice fully we need to look for changes which might seem radical today will ensure that the DEMOCRACY in our country is strengthened and it survives .
The politicians of all hues and color have honed the art of governance or misgoverning and making use of the MUTE book called constitution. The present system of governance at both centre and state level can be described as a group of walkers (clean looking , self serving ,dishonest and vain persons) taking a blind donkey( call it People) around a park ( Call it the Pseudo Democracy Park) on a path shown in the mute book( The Constitution) to complete the five year journey in a manner which benefits them the most while starving the donkey which carries them . This has been happening since last six decades. This park is now well known to these walkers and is tended by a huge force of gardeners ( the Bureaucrats) . Both the walkers and gardeners use the muteness of the rule book and ever growing weakness of the donkey by taking short cuts and overloading the donkey with tax burdens.All this actually suit the ends of the bureaucrats to somehow prolong , facilitate and increase the hold of these uneducated or semi literate politicians over a large mass of people who actually are not aware of their rights because they have been deliberately kept uneducated and thus remain disinterested in this political drama which is enacted every five years.
The time is here and now to have a look at the level and competence of those ruling us through the present system The time is now to seek changes in system by a national referendum where the caste factor is nullified, the regions are banished, the clans are influential no more and the lineage does not overcome merit. We actually need a system where accountability of Mumbai like terrorist attacks not only falls on the state home minister who resigns after lot of cajoling but also holds the STATE HOME SECRETARY equally responsible and who should have come out openly and resigned on moral grounds or should have been sacked. Actually they are the ones who should have been taken to task for inaction, for poor intelligence, for no preparedness at all , no anticipation of such events and thereby causing loss to national prestige and loss of innocent lives. This I dare say because bureaucrats are the persons who are actually planning and policy making ( not the minister who actually is more worried to get elected next time or save his place in the cabinet as was the case in Maharashtra ).Till today nation has not seen any Secretary( Bureaucrats) resigning but only Ministers resigning, generals being sacked -be it 1962 Chinese aggression or Mumbai terrorist attack.
For example the desired or proposed system will have only those as ministers who know the subject or portfolio they are supposed to handle and not just because he is one MP of the TWO MEMBER PARTY who is supporting the new dispensation required to reach the magic figure of 272 to keep the govt from losing a no confidence motion. We need to change the system with a better one because this vicious and self serving system is a gift to this nation which has been put in place after a lot of hard wasteful labour and paper work of bureaucrats with the tacit support of political leaders of all parties during the last 63 years who have by collective and willful deceit and profound planning have made a mockery of an excellent well meaning document called INDIAN CONSTITUTION . The biggest beneficiaries of the system are bureaucrats who have settled the system in such a manner that the politician remained at their beck and call while in actuality should have been the other way around . At the same time the system has benefited literate ,not so literate but cunning and clever political leaders , some of them may not qualify for a job( if asked to qualify in a written test and interview) barring a small minority and here in the present dispensation they control cabinet secretaries and other intellectuals. We INDIANS need to have RE- LOOK on the efficacy of our present political and administrative systems !

PROTECTION OF WHISTLE BLOWERS UNDER RTI - WHY IT IS REQUIRED

AT LAST PROTECTION OF WHISTLE BLOWERS
Some action in form of a bill likely to become an act of Parliament! But why so late............... Any way it is a good beginning to protect the whistle blowers but why did the Govt wake up only after precious lives have been lost! It is a well known fact that events are reflective of the society in which they occur. The killing of Mr Satish Shetty a RTI activist of Pune was a grave pointer to the things which are in the offing for other whistle blowers like him or the future ones who are to follow this blazen trail of RTI activism because slowly but surely it is becoming a national empowerment movement. Firstly the whole nation must salute social activists like Mr Shetty for his indomitable courage to expose corruption and he needs to be honoured by Government of India so as to honour his actions and to encourage future and existing RTI activists. Time has now come when the bureaucracy and political parties have to acknowledge that the system which is corrupt and is being nudged into action by the RTI users and being made accountable is the same system which is carrying out murderous attacks on the ones who are exposing its dirty under belly . This very system is trying to stifle the voice of these RTI activists who are being very ably supported by the media of all types in their fight to cleanse the system or uncover its misdeeds.The need of the hour is to provide fool proof security to such RTI activists who need and ask for it. Another issue to which no thought has been given is provisioning of extra man power to deal exclusively with the RTI work load which otherwise is being done by existing staff in the government and other public funded organisation. There is another matter which requires immediate executive action to recruit extra staff where it is felt absolutely necessary to deal with RTI related work load so that RTI users get information in time every time and information provisioning is not delayed because of non availability of staff due to their being busy in other matters or non availability to deal with RTI matters.

INDIA NEEDS TO BUILD NEW CITIES

A study shows that India by 2026 will need 14 Delhi's or 18 Mumbai's or 30 Bangalore's! But how do we create so much of livable urban space or locate the resources and people needed to deliver it?
In many ways this will be the key challenge facing India for the next few decades. It is high time to change the development model- the time has now come to sustain the development of the already developed cities and towns . Time has come now to FOCUS AND CHANNELISE MORE FUNDS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SMALL TOWNS SO THAT THEY ARE DEVELOPED INTO U;TRA MODERN CITIES REFLECTING THE INDIAN ETHOS AND CULTURE.
The sole answer is to plan them in a better way. It will be easier to plan /replan these small towns because being small they have a very small baggage of non planned development. Thus these towns will be easier to redefine according to the new plans and models so as to develop these into towns with all modern amenities.
LET A NEW INDIA EMERGE THROUGH THESE NEW TOWNS RATHER THAN CONTAIN,PRESERVE AND CORRECT OLD NON PLANNED FAULTY CITIES AS IS BEING DONE TILL NOW . IT IS BETTER TO HAVE NEW PLANNED CITIES/TOWNS RATHER THAN HAVE SEMI PLANNED CITIES/TOWNS WITH EVER GROWING SLUMS.

TIME TO TREAT SAFAI KARAMCHARIS AS SKILLED PERSONS

It is about 70 years ago when Gandhi ji suggested that we remove the practice of carrying night soil on heads by poor scavengers. In the modern times when so much has been said and done in terms of technology about Solid Waste management it is sad to note that very little has been done about the garbage collection methodology . And still little has been done to change the mind set of an average Indian (whether rural or urban) which  finds  that  garbage is untouchable and so are the SAFAI KARAMCHARIS and GARBAGE COLLECTORS.
Actually what  should have been the FIRST STEP to the chain of solid waste management has not been even thought of . I would like to solicit support every individual /organisation / NGO to bring a simple change in mind set of all fellow Indians. They must think about the garbage collectors when they pack the garbage for removal from their houses/establishments. It is time we make  the garbage safe for them to handle it. Although a lot has been done to make bio medical waste  safe through pollution regulations but not much has been done on the  common garbage frontbe it industrial or household.
We have to launch a campaign to make garbage safe (As discussed in my earlier blog on How to manage our GARBAGE ) because TILL DATE  GARBAGE COLLECTION SYSTEM HAS NO PARTICIPATION FROM THE COMMON CITIZEN OF OTHER THAN PACKING IT IN A POLYTHENE BAG AND KEEPING IT OUTSIDE THE HOUSE SOME EVEN DO NOT DO THIS ALSO!  Such garbage when handled by the poor safai karamcharis  is a very big health hazard.
 In order to make our country proud we need to make and maintain it as CLEAN AND NEAT AS POSSIBLE. To achieve this aim we need a committed ,well trained,motivated cleaning  work force. No body wants to opt for this profession because it is not properly projected and paid for . We need to change our method of maintaining public places, We need to make them as mechanised as  they are in the western world. We need to give dignity to the active participants  or cleaners so that a person takes pride in the job he /she is doing rather than being sniggered  on by others. As of now these persons are  those who remain at the lowest rung of  our society in terms of esteem,poverty and health.


 It is high time that we treat and accord  skilled person's status to    our garbage handlers/public or private cleaners/road sweepers/ public toilet cleaners/janitors and pay them much higher wages as compared to the meagre  ones being doled out to them now. We need to do this because  the job they under take to keep our national environment clean is not undermined and we dispose off our refuse in a manner as it is  being done in the most developed countries.  
So many JAT SIKHS OR SO CALLED UPPER CASTES PERSONS  are working as cleaners  in CANADA  and other foreign countries  and they get fairly and adequately compensated. We have to create an  work environment which ushers and  and nurture DIGNITY OF LABOUR . We need to pay wage rates which are based the difficulty of the job performed and let this difficulty of work reflect in the WAGES.Also the numbers willing to do these types jobs will also decide demand and supply. We need to make this job scientific,mechanical,hygienic,free from health hazards work.
This is required in order to give a message to the outside world that we are actually on road to become developed and we pay attention to things which hither to fore were not our priority. We need to do this fast if we want to join the league of developed nations and drop the tag of being from the  third world.